


Try a Little Tenderness

by orphan_account



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, tw: abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2018-01-21 02:29:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1534280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tywin isn't the only Lannister with ruthless ambition.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Try a Little Tenderness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theelusiveflamingo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theelusiveflamingo/gifts).



Rhaella, _No, Queen Rhaella now,_ Joanna self corrects, always has such horrid things to say about her bother. _"_

_He is cruel, my ladies," she tells Joanna and Myria, the Princess of Dorne. "He calls me all manner of names, and grabs me so tightly he bruises me. He's a beast, a monster. My Bonifer would never treat me so."_

Joanna barely suppresses the urge to laugh at her new queen. Rhaella is a woman wedded, and bedded, mother now, to a small, sweet boy, and, thanks to Summerhall, well versed in the sadnesses that the world brings-- and yet she still longs for her lowly knight. Though something inside her aches for her Princess, _no Queen_ , Joanna cannot help the pang of jealousy that rips through her. Rhaella must be the only woman in the world to wish to give up the title and power that would come with being Queen, and Joanna more than a little resents her for it. Her closest companions are a Queen, and a Princess in their own rights, and Joanna is nothing but a girl from the lesser branch of House Lannister. Rhaella could have everything, and she, Joanna, will have nothing, and the thought rankles her each day.

Joanna does not deny that her Queen speaks the truth though-- there is little love between Aerys and Rhaella-- and she does not doubt that Aerys is less than kind to his sister. Aerys is a man who never forgets a slight, and his retribution is often fierce and fiery, as the dragon he believes he is. But it goes both ways. Aerys only has to laugh too loudly at a jape before Rhaella is calling him _"as mad as Maegor."_ Once, when Aerys mentioned some tome that he had found, something about the history of House Targaryen, Rhaella had smiled snidely and said, _"My brother. Aerys the first come again. He too couldn't bed his wife right."_

Myria had pulled Rhaella aside after that, glaring at her as only a Princess could, in a way Joanna would never dare, though she wanted to. _"He is the Crown Prince, Rhaella. Mind your tongue. You've no care for him, but you cannot speak to him so!"_

 _"I am a Princess,"_ Rhaella had yelled, tossing her long, long, silver-gold hair.

 _"As am I,"_ Myria had said, voice like steel, and spine straight. Though she was shorter than Rhaella, Myria seemed to tower over her at that moment. _"Perhaps some kindness would go aways in softening his tempers, my Princess,"_ Myria had said after, softening her voice, and soothing Rhaella in only the way she knew how. " _Think of how kind you were with Bonifer. Perhaps showing Aerys the same would allow you to rule him as you ruled your knight."_

Joanna had taken Myria's words to heart. A little kindness, indeed.

Aerys had always been taken with her, but a few compliments about his swordplay, polite inquiries about his reading, and the rare shy smile, and a maiden's blush had him eating from the palm of her hand.

Aerys showered her in jewels and silks, promised her the world. Told her that she should be the dragon, and not his silly sister.

And when he took her maidenhead, he was so, so, gentle, nothing at all like Rhaella said. He kissed and held her and told her that she was the greatest beauty he had ever seen. He told her that when he was king, she would rise high at court, and would bring nothing but power and prestige to the Lannister name.

There was nothing Joanna liked hearing so well.

Aerys, _King Aerys now, King Aerys the Second of His Name, long may he reign,_ the night of his coronation, lays with her and strokes her golden hair, and calls her his lioness, and asks how he might make her happy in his new reign. Joanna dimples. _"My cousin, my King. Ser Tywin. He would make an excellent Hand. You'd honor House Lannister in truth."_


End file.
